Special Edition: They Call Me Teacher

This special edition of the Jamaican Tory is written in tribute to one of the most dynamic Jamaican patriots who has ever lived, a man who has truly demonstrated what it means to be a good leader and a good citizen, who’s example every Jamaican can truly take inspiration from, one of the few remaining from an older generation of leaders who saw this country through turbulent times and who passed away last week at the ripe old age of 98, I speak of non-other than The Most Honourable Sir Howard Felix Hanlan Cooke.

                           

The Jamaican Tory was truly saddened to hear of the passing of Sir Howard though to be frank was not entirely shocked given the evitability that it must happen one day notwithstanding, it would have been nice to see the former Governor-General hit the 100 mark, but apparently that was not to be. Being a fan of medieval literature both fictional and historical, the term true knight comes to mind when describing a man like Cooke, he really did represent all the values that knighthood was supposed to espouse, traits such as loyalty, honour patriotism, courage, a man who loved the people and was loved by them in turn, defender of tradition, an advocate of monarchism and a faithful Christian, it’s little wonder he was knighted twice.  The likes of him will hardly be seen again.

                          

Sir Howard is best known for his political career which included being a member of the West Indies Parliament, sitting both houses of the Jamaican Parliament on different occasions, his many years of service as Minister of Education and President of the Jamaican Senate which eventually led to him being given  the highest office of the land as the Queen’s representative, the Governor-General of Jamaica.

Sir Howard’s contribution to this country is a most invaluable one, he started out as a lecturer of Mico College helping to train the next generation of educators before moving on to become one of the founding members of the People’s National Party which would see him serving in the House of Assembly and later in the West Indies Parliament, Sir Howard was even part of the bi partisan committee that drafted our present constitution.

What I find really interesting about Sir Howard is that regardless of his membership within the PNP, he was never subscribed to leftism of his colleagues, indeed during his time as Minister of Education during the 1970s, he was positively alarmed by the socialist direction that Prime Minister Manley was taking the country in. Regardless of his misgiving he was no traitor and stayed loyal to his party serving with pride as Minister of Education helping to make several reforms in the educational system of Jamaica, which he was well in a position to do given his intimate knowledge of the system which acquired over the years during his time in the  teaching profession, thus earning him the nickname, Teacher Cooke.

                               

From 1991 to 2006, Sir Howard Cooke had the distinction of serving as Governor-General of Jamaica. A position he excelled in, in fact Sir Howard was the very epitome of what a Governor-General should be. He and Lady Cooke transformed Kings House into a place where every citizen from all walks of life would feel welcome and made it truly a home fit for a head of state. Sir Howard as Governor-General demonstrated in his conduct that the highest position in the country was available to every citizen and as a representative of the Crown was a powerful unifying symbol in his own right. Regardless of his popularity, the GG never sought to usurp the Queen’s position as some politicians certainly would have done if given the chance, in fact Her Majesty has never had a more loyal man in her service, as the old knight was among the first to go on the attack whenever the idea of a Jamaican republic was bandied about and did everything he could to present the Queen as the “Jamaican sovereign who simply lives in Britain” while making it clear that republicanism has no place whatsoever in Jamaica.

Aside from the political and teaching careers, Teacher Cooke also served as a church elder and lay minister for the United Church in Jamaica and Grand Cayman, thus his Christian beliefs was a great influence on his life and the values that he chose to espouse in his life time. He work tirelessly to defend the preservation all parts of this nation’s culture and everything that made it great, from our varying traditional art forms and folklore to our Christian heritage and  monarchist values.

                          

 Sir Howard Cooke without a doubt was the very demonstration of what it means to be a servant of God, Queen and Country and was well beloved by all, he lived his life selflessly, tirelessly serving the good of this country in his many capacities. His passing is truly a great loss to us all and he will be sadly missed but as the old saying goes, walk good Sir Howard, until we meet again. 

Tribute to the Iron Lady

This latest post pays tribute to a very special person, who was very instrumental in shaping the world we now live in, a woman who embodies strength and resolve, who focused on principles rather than popularity and ended up paying the ultimate political price for her resilience and defiance, I speak of none other than former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, The Baroness Thatcher  who passed away peacefully last week.
                                     
Lady Thatcher was not called Iron Lady for nothing  and to this day remains a very controversial figure, one who changed Britain and the world forever, she was a stanch opponent of anything that even resembled  Marxism and stood should to shoulder with many other political leaders of her time as was demonstrated by her special friendship with then U.S. President Ronald Reagan, as well as close alliances formed with other anti-communist leaders of the 1980s including our very own Prime Minister Edward Seaga.
                           
The Baroness did much to improve her country’s economy which was in quite a state after years of mismanagement by the Labour Party (British Labour that is, not the JLP), unlike populist leaders who promised  redistribution of wealth, Thatcher did something more concrete instead of encouraging  her people to depend on the state to be their surrogate parent  and provide them with welfare, she instead encouraged business, capital growth investment and innovation. She encouraged efficiency in government by the transfering  of loss making entities into private hands. She was a genius who ran the state like a business, she understood that the only way to develop and grow an economy is through capital growth, not by taking the wealth of one class of people and giving it to another, she  had the foresight to know that wealth redistribution is not the way out of poverty but rather creation of new wealth. Surprising as it may seem I also admire the way she dealt the the Trade Union system in Britain who were at the backbone of the economic downfall of Britain promoting their own secret agenda to reduce productivity with their constant support of strikes and other forms of industrial actions most of which were taken for all forms of ridiculous reasons, I personally have no problem with Trade Union in itself but when such bodies abuse their power in order slow down productivity and damage a country’s production sector they must be brought to heel and this is exactly what the Right Honourable Lady did.
                               
I also supported her foreign policy stance (at least most of the time), she was instrumental in leading the fight against international communism along with Regan, she also brought in the Trident missile system to bolster her country's defences against nuclear weapons. Without a doubt however her greatest victory came in 1983 when she ordered Her Majesty’s Armed Forces to crush the Argentine invaders and retake the  Falkland islands thus restoring a surge of new hope in an era of great depression. Regardless of these great achievements , I must say that she also made a few mistakes along the way the biggest one was the support of the Apartheid Regime even while it was clear that both the Commonwealth and the rest  of the international community had seen enough and wanted Apartheid gone,  perhaps she could have handled the situation in a more tactful manner instead of finding herself on the opposite side of international public opinion.

                               

But  in her defence the Iron Lady was not one for falling in line, that is why most conservatives (myself included) admire her so much while she is utterly despised by the left, even after her death the left are still insisting of tarnishing her name and making her out be the villain when this is not the case, it was quite horrifying to see and hear to Left wingers organizing parties to celebrate her death, how disgraceful, she was  knifed in the back by her own fellow Tories in life and now people are celebrating her demise? Some people just don’t appreciate greatness when they see it, this is the typical attitude of the mob. What is ironic about these “celebrations” is that most of the party-goers are young people, who were either too young to remember or not even born when Lady Thatcher was in Downing Street, yet they celebrate her death because she did not conform to thier ideologies. It’s amazing how ungrateful people can be, what a shame!!,  but this only goes to show the attitude of liberals, socialist, communist and others of the left, no dignity, no class, not even so much as sympathy for the family. I know  that no tears were shed by right-wingers  when Hugo Chavez died a few months ago, but none of us took to street in celebration  either.
                            
                       
Margaret Thatcher embodies the type of political leader that the Jamaican Tory can respect, a true patriot to both Queen and Country, one who employs the use of conservative principles in all aspects, a devoted monarchist although there was a false rumour going around that Thatcher and the Queen were at odds this is utterly false, they may not have always have seen all  things in the same light e.g. The Apartheid Issue, but to say they were enemies is going a bit too far as the Queen could not have found a prime minister that was more loyal to her than Thatcher (except perhaps Churchill) , the British People and the World were very lucky to have some as dedicated and uncompromising as the Iron Lady.

Hail to the Chief

This week the Jamaican Tory pays special tribute to a noble man who in his life embodied most of the values values that the Jamaican Tory esteems as honourable, upright and patriotic this person is none other than the Right Excellent Sir William Alexander Bustamante affectionately called “Chief”, Jamaica’s first Prime Minister and National Hero often credited as the father of modern Jamaican conservatism, Sir Alexander would have celebrated his 129^th birthday today had he been alive.

                                         
He was born as William Alexander Clarke in Hanover  on February 24, 1884,  to a mixed raced couple he spent his early years growing up in rural Jamaica before going off to explore Latin America as a young man it was there that he befriended a Cuban sea Captain who had such a great impact on him that he changed his surname by Deed Poll to Bustamante, he also began making use of his second name of Alexander rather than his first given name of William.  In 1932 he returned to Jamaica and began to take an interest in political matters by writing to the Daily Gleaner and also got involved in the Trade Union Movement by starting out as General Secretary of the Jamaica Workers Union, he later went to establish his own Bustamante Industrial Trade Union. As every schoolchild in Jamaica ought to know, modern politics in Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean developed from this alliance between unions and political parties. Bustamante was for a short while placed in prison by the then colonial government but did not stay long thanks to the efforts of his influential cousin and political rival Norman Manley who was credited as the best Jamaican lawyer of his time. Bustamante upon coming out  joined Manley’s  People’s National Party (PNP) but later withdrew his membership as he was opposed to the PNP’s radical views which were inched towards establishing  socialism in Jamaica, he founded the Jamaica Labour Party in 1943 as conservative movement to counteract the PNP’s proposed revolution. Even though both Manley and Bustamante wanted Jamaica to be free of crown colony rule, the conservative JLP wanted Jamaica to have full Dominion status within the British Commonwealth  similar to Canada and New Zealand, Bustamante though anti-colonial was fiercely loyal to the Crown and was once quoted as shouting in one of his political rallies “Long Live the King but Denham  must go” to which Governor Denham traitorously responded “There is only one king in King’s House” he was of course referring not to King George VI  but rather to himself by falsely claiming to be King of the island.

              

In 1944 Jamaica had it’s first general elections under Universal Adult suffrage which was won by the JLP but he still did not become Chief Minister until 1953 even though he was leader of the majority as the Governor still remained as head of the executive until that time, Chief was however elected chairman of the KSAC and Mayor of Kingston in 1947. In 1955 his luck changed as he lost the elections to the PNP and became leader of the opposition but felt compensated  after  being made a Knight Bachelor by Her Majesty  Queen Elizabeth II  later that same year .

 

 By the mid-1950s the new buzzword was federation, this idea proposed that all the colonies within the British West Indies should unite under a single banner and gain their independence from British rule under one flag, this idea was initially supported by both Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom as well the local political elite including the Chief, interestingly neither  Sir Alex nor Manley contested seats in the Federal Parliament instead choosing to focus more on Provincial politics even though they were both  recognized as leaders of their respective parties, Bustamante for the right and Manley for the left . Even though I’m a huge fan of the Chief I must say that choosing to withdraw his support from the federation later on was a mistake yet that was precisely what he did, with pressure mounting from all sides Premier Manley had no choice but to call a referendum on the matter, the resulting was a resounding NO for federation and YES for independence. Next came the writing of Jamaica’s constitution this was done be a team of statesmen and legal experts on both sides of the political divide, the bi partisan committee took weeks to decide on what form of government we should have and even though not everyone on the committee approved both Bustamante and Manley were fiercely adamant that Jamaica was to be a constitutional monarchy based on the rules of British styled parliamentary democracy, there was talk that some wanted Jamaica to be either a US styled Presidential republic or an Parliamentary Republic based on the Irish model, the two political giants of the time utterly rejected this idea, a very wise choice as far as I’m concerned  for that I’ll be eternally grateful , contrary to erroneous propaganda put out by republicans there is no evidence to suggest that Bustamante nor Manley wanted a republic in fact the very constitution that we have now is proof enough that they were both loyal monarchist, their struggle was against colonialism not the monarchy.
                          

Following the writing  of the constitution another general election was held to see who would form the first government of the Dominion of Jamaica, the JLP won and Bustamante was appointed  Premier which would be automatically transformed into Prime Minister on August 6, 1962, he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire and  appointed as the first West Indian member of  Her Majesty’s Privy Council, a month later he married his former private secretary and longtime mistress Miss Gladys Longbridge.  Jamaica prospered under the Chief’s tenure as he stuck true to the principles of good old fashioned Toryism as a model for social and economic development, he has also careful not to have any dealings with the radical communist regimes of his day by proudly proclaiming that “Jamaica is with the West”, he was respected by many internationally and held audiences with great like-minded men such as Sir Winston Churchill and Emperor Haile Selassie I.
                          

The Chief received many accolades and awards over his lifetime some of them already mentioned  but none was in comparison to the Order of National Hero that was awarded to both himself and Norman Manley for their great contribution to the founding of the modern Jamaica, the Order of National Hero is the highest and most prestigious  award  that Jamaica could  give to one of its loyal subjects . Sir Alexander retired from active politics in 1967 and spent 10 long years enjoying the fruits of his labour before dying at the ripe old age of 93 on August 6, 1977 exactly fifteen years after he first became Prime Minister of our fair island dominion.